A federal judge in Wyoming has dismissed an amended lawsuit filed by R-CALF USA and four ranchers that alleged the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act in its effort to mandate radio frequency identification eartags on adult cattle entering into interstate commerce.

South Dakota ranchers Kenny and Roxy Fox and Wyoming ranchers Tracy and Donna Hunt were the other plaintiffs.

The court determined the documents provided by APHIS did not prove the agency unlawfully established and utilized two committees that helped it address technical and logistical issues necessary to implement a mandatory RFID system.

R-CALF contended those committees consisted of RFID manufacturers and other advocates and alleged they pursued the precise agenda dictated to them by APHIS.

Federal District Judge Nancy Freudenthal ruled APHIS did not form or select the membership of the Cattle Traceability Working Group and the Producer Traceability Council and did not exercise management or control over the operations of either for the purposes of FACA.

The court also found APHIS was not a member of either group. It provided input but no funding to either group.

The amended lawsuit sought to prohibit APHIS from using the work product of the two committees should the agency proceed with future efforts to mandate RFID tags.

Unless the case is appealed, APHIS is free to use whatever work product it obtained from the committees should it start a future rulemaking process for RFID technology, according to the judge.

While R-CALF might have lost this battle, it has had success in the broader war over the RFID mandate, according to the organization’s leader.

Represented by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, R-CALF and the ranchers filed an initial complaint in October 2019 alleging APHIS’ pronouncement that it would mandate RFID by 2023 was unlawful. APHIS promptly withdrew its mandate.

In July 2020, APHIS issued a formal notice announcing it was reinstating its RFID mandate with a start date of January 2023. The New Civil Liberties Alliance, R-CALF and others filed comments in opposition to the notice arguing it was unlawful.

On March 23, 2021, APHIS withdrew its 2020 notice by announcing the agency would not proceed with its second attempt to mandate RFID technology.

“The case has created awareness regarding the USDA’s unrestrained effort to mandate RFID than would have otherwise occurred,” Bill Bullard, R-CALF’s CEO, told Capital Press.

The case also helped block USDA’s unlawful efforts to mandate RFID, he said.

“USDA publicly stated in March that it would not proceed without following the law — the Administrative Procedure Act that requires a public notice and comment rulemaking process,” he said.

“It’s clear that if we hadn’t acted as we did nearly two years ago, our industry would still be facing a federal RFID mandate beginning Jan. 1, 2023. As it is, we have protected the rights of cattle producers by forcing USDA to follow the law,” he said.